Developing pedagogies for the Virtual Campus

27th January 2012

Project Team

• Alex Kendall – Birmingham City University• Graham Lowe – Birmingham City University• Alan Shepherd – Prison Education Consultant

(BCU/UoW, ex L&S HMP Stafford) • Julie Hughes – University of Wolverhampton• Chris Horton – Regional Manager Offender

Learning, The Manchester College• Mark Hetherington & Dario Faniglione – E-

developers, Birmingham City University

Evolution of the project

• Jan 2010 Improving initial education and continuing professional development opportunities for prison educators in the West Midlands (LSIS)

• Jan 2011 Working with the Virtual Campus -Action research ‘champions’ programme (LSIS)

http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=330607

Project Brief…

To develop pedagogical expertise amongst OLASS tutors and facilitate production of pedagogically led materials for the teaching of both the vocational and wider curriculum through the Virtual Campus

Anticipated outcomes…• New suite of tutor ‘owned’, sector-specific and context-tested resources produced for each

of the five subject areas

• Approx 50 ‘Virtual Campus Pedagogy Coaches’ trained to cascade and build capacity across the TMC regions (and beyond…)

• Teacher developed ‘key principles for effective teaching with the virtual campus’ guidance document produced and disseminated in a range of media formats (and submitted for publication)

• National subject strand ‘hubs’ established that link in to Content Development Group

• Regional Pedagogy Coaches network groups established

• Pedagogy Coach web-folio developed to support and sustain connectivity beyond the lifetime of the project

5 Stages to the project

STAGE ONE: Preparatory work

STAGE TWO: Review and Design

STAGE 3: Pilot Phase

STAGE 4: Evaluation and Revision

STAGE 5: Dissemination and Roll out

Complete

Programme for today….10.45 Issues from regional meetings – Alan Shepherd 11.00 Digital learning, issues & signposts – Julie Hughes 11.30 Thinking pedagogically about content – AK & All 12.30 Lunch 1.15 Carousel ‘tasters’ (15 mins)

- MyCAT- Mark Hetherington- Shareville – Graham Lowe- Blended learning – Julie Hughes

2.15 Introduction to Project Theme groups - Key areas for resource development – Chris Horton 2.45 Preparation for next meeting

Teaching with Technology….Shift happensKarl Fisch v4.0

But ...Prof. Diana Laurillard (Institute of Education) – on teachers (and teacher educators) and technology

In teaching and learning currently, we tend to use technology to support traditional modes of teaching...We scarcely have the infrastructure, the training, the habits, or the access to new technology to be optimising its use just yet.(Laurillard, 2007).

Digitally Inexperienced

Digital SocialitesDigitally Reluctant

Digitally Experienced

Experience of technology

Degree of educational contribution

HighLow

Low

High A typology

Defining Generation Y: towards a new typology of digital learnersHartley et al. (2008)University of Bradford.

E-learning theoryWe must acknowledge that pedagogy needs to be ‘re-done’ at the same time as it needs to be ‘re-thought.’ (Beetham and Sharpe, 2007)

Learners cannot therefore be treated as bundle of disparate needs: they are actors not factors, in the learning situation. (Beetham, 2007)

We need ‘a dialogue between theory and practice, as well as between learning and teaching.’ (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007, p.3).

E-learning is often talked about as a ‘trojan mouse’, which teachers let into their practice without realizing that it will require them to rethink not just how they use the particular hardware or software, but all of what they do. (Sharpe and Oliver 2007)

We are witnessing ‘a new model of education, rather than a new model of learning’…we see how learning can be socially situated in a way never previously possible’.(Mayes and de Freitas 2007, p.13)

“Give pedagogy back to the teachers”(Laurillard 2008)

Potential for culture shift?

My teaching has completely and utterly changed, totally from how I was taught on the Cert Ed – paper based ...sometimes I walk in and there’s just images on the screen (on the blog) and that is the Teaching and Learning of the day – students don’t cope well now with other formats “we were talked at for an hour and a half – we go off and do our own learning or you talk to us in a different way”. My teaching has completely altered in just a very short space of time.

Annie 2010, HE in FE teacher

Offender learners and their teachers

Prisoners typically have a relatively fragile identity as learners, and often have low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and poor basic skills. Teachers have limited access to internet resources and therefore it is difficult for them to find ways of making teaching resources and content relevant.

A major factor affecting teaching and learning is the need to manage and deal with the ‘emotional load’, the practical and emotional support needs that prisoners bring with them to class, which affects both learner and teacher and the ‘emotional climate’ in the prison classroom. (Jeanes, Simonot & McDonald 2010) LONCETT

If they are going to be rehabilitated into the modern world, offenders must access modern technologies. It is necessary for employment as well as coping with the fast pace of life. Anne Pike (2010), Open University

Dissertation on SlideShare

We are in a computer age. It’s an information world. You can’t imagine what it would be like for someone who’s been inside for 20 years. They’d have never seen a mobile phone or a laptop computer. What do you mean, red button technology?

Prisoners’ Education Trust (2006)

a large proportion of offenders said having access to the internet (62%) and a simple word processor (48%) was most important to making learning easier.

New technologies should enable access to a broad range of learning materials. However, this is currently very circumscribed, primarily through fears about giving prisoners open access to the Internet …

ICT can keep offenders in contact with the outside world, and reduce their reliance on other offenders as a peer group (Schuller 2009, p.41).

What does the evidence tell us about the link between lifelong learning and re-offending? Chitty 2008

Research has found that the likelihood of a prisoner finding employment on release is often tied in with other factors such as having stable accommodation, having qualifications, not having a drug problem and receiving help and advice with finding work (p.6).

Important role for the Virtual Campus activities and networking with other stakeholders/third sector.

The Alliance for Digital Inclusion (2008)

Key issues emerging:

Service delivery and frontline work within prisons:• Volunteers from the third sector (both in prisons and in the community)

often don’t have access to ICT to support their services – e.g. for befriending, or providing advice and guidance.

• Front line staff within prisons and the probation service often lack ICT skills and are not as engaged with using ICT in their work as they could be.

– There can be resistance to new ways of working. – Varying levels of enthusiasm and staff turnover can affect support.

The Alliance for Digital InclusionICT Skills and Training:There are significant barriers to engaging offenders in ICT courses– Offenders often lack understanding of the importance of ICT

skills, and for those on longer term sentences technology can change significantly during the time they are serving their sentence.

– Offenders may have low literacy levels.

– Fear of failure may act as a barrier to learning, particularly for those who have had bad experiences with formal learning.

Education and TrainingNeeds and focus:– Training needs to be tailored to people with different levels of

ability; presentation is key, too many training materials are text based and may be unsuitable for those with learning disabilities or low literacy.

– Female prisoners often have different needs from male offenders and they may end up a long way away from home because there are few women’s prisons; sustaining family relationships may be a higher priority for female offenders and the services on offer to female offenders in prisons should reflect their needs.

There are barriers to sharing data on ex-offenders to facilitate partnership working between prisons, probation services and community organisations. This cannot be resolved until the following questions have been answered:

–Which data can be shared ‘through the gate’ and with whom?

–How can community support and training help offenders to lose their ‘ex-offender’ identity and assume normal status?

Offender attitudes:

• Peer-to-peer support and mediated access to ICT-enabled services can reduce the fear which can be a barrier to learning; being shown how to use ICT by a trusted intermediary can reduce fear of failure.

• ICT can be as isolating as it can be inclusive; human interaction and mediated or supported access to ICT is essential (both within prisons and within the community).

Offender attitudes:

• Word of mouth is very powerful: if prisoners are positive about a new system, they will recommend it to one another.

• Simple interfaces e.g. Start Here touchscreen kiosks can reduce fear of ICT. Touchscreens are often not seen as computers ...as opposed to assuming the role of passive consumer.

Opportunities for using ICT to provide ‘through the Gate’ support for ex-offenders upon release into the community:

• The advantage of ICT skills is that these are highly transferable; whereas some niche vocational courses may be appropriate to the local context of the prison, but inappropriate to a prisoner’s ‘real life’, ICT skills are almost universally relevant.

• ICT skills are also an enabler to taking e-learning courses on non-ICT subjects.

• The vision of the Virtual Campus is to use connectivity to improve opportunities

– The Virtual Campus links seamlessly to the Virtual Campus Community Network, which provides continuing support to ex-offenders through community organisations (these are often 3rd sector organisations).

– Learning completed or partially completed in prison can be picked up and continued after release.

Review of Offender Learning (2011) BIS & Ministry of Justice

We are still failing to capitalise on the learning and training inside prison to ensure that prisoners continue their progress on release.

We want reform to be radical and innovative.Hayes & Blunt, Ministerial Foreword.

Recommendations:Need for implementation of the VC across all prisons (p.6) with

opportunity for its use elsewhere grasped (p.13). There is the capacity for this resource to do more including post-release engagement (p.19).

Pause…Reflection and Review

• Back to your classrooms

• Into the VC

• Sample some new ways of working

Pedagogy (t & l) before content

What values and principles inform effective face to face teaching and learning in your ‘classrooms’?

What sorts of roles and functions would you like the VC to be able to contribute/perform in your ‘classrooms’? How do you think the VC could add value to what you and your learners already do?

Review

Choose a resource on the VC – how could you use this resource in its current form to do the kind of learning you want to see happen in your classroom?

If you could change, adapt or develop the resource what would you do?

Broad curriculum focus

Literacy (Reading,Writing, Speaking & Listening) Problem Solving

Customer skillsTeam work & Collaboration

Retail, Construction, Catering, Transport/storage,

Wholesale distribution